PURDUE UNIVERSITY FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

September 5, 2022

Jeff Brohm

Press Conference

JEFF BROHM: Looking forward for our next home game. There's a lot of things we need to work on that you learn from your first game, especially when it doesn't go the way you want and you lose the football game. That's what the majority of our time has been spent on the last three days is making sure that we get a lot of mistakes corrected, get better at the small things and really work on our fundamentals and techniques of everything we have doing and evaluate all the decisions we've made and what we could have done to get better and that's the key is coming out and getting better.

We're going to play an Indiana State team coming off a victory at home that we have to start to do all the small things correctly. Play as hard as we can on every play and try to come out with a victory.

Q. You get a chance to look at the film, see some of the miss at that points, like penalties, missed tackles. What are some key focuses this week in practice?

JEFF BROHM: Well, that's what we've done. You know, any time -- we had a really good year last year as far as not having a lot of penalties, winning the turnover battle. We had some really just silly penalties that cost us. It wasn't anything outlandish but you know, two illegal alignments on offense, just receivers not getting lined up on the ball, which were silly. They can't happen.

You know, the chop block, was costly, where really our basketball made a good block. There was a twist happen and our O-line man happened to just touch the other guy so we are just going to have to eliminate running backs cutting at all because it kind of just fell into it and it was a costly penalty.

And then I think we had a delay game. And really other than that, we had a lot of penalties on defense which can't happen. Way too many penalties on defense, way too many holding calls in the secondary got called on us in key, key situations.

So we've got to clean up the ability to play physical but yet use our hands properly and make sure that we're obeying the rules.

So those were some costly penalties. We had silly offsides from a secondary player that I know he wasn't trying to do that, but he was offsides. It was costly. So really just some costly penalties that when you play a good football team, you can't have happen. So we've just got to concentrate, identify what those penalties are, which I think we have, and try to get those fixed.

Q. Is there an update on Broc Thompson? You said he was nicked up a little bit after Penn State. Is there any concern for him heading into this week?

JEFF BROHM: Well, Broc was nicked up, and we'll keep evaluating him this week. Hopeful that he'll be ready to play but we'll know later in the week.

Q. In terms of the wide receiver group as a whole, you go into the season stressing that there's a lot of guys that can contribute to this offense but maybe haven't been able to do it specifically in this system maybe due to a lack of experience. Jones was a guy to step up but after watching some film. Were there any other guys that caught your eye in terms of solidifying themselves as a No. 2 option?

JEFF BROHM: Well, I think it's still a work-in-progress. A lot of our receivers have been banged up in the off-season up until now. You'd like to, you know, get a few guys to step up and be that second guy.

For the most part, Charlie really played well, that was a really good game for him. We have to try to find ways to get Tyrone Tracy the ball a little bit more in many different ways. So that's something we could have done better.

Mershawn Rice, who had not practiced a whole lot, was able to do a couple good things. We have to try to get as much out of him as we can and he's got to continue to get better.

You know, T.J. Sheffield did some good things and then a couple things we'd obviously like to get better and then there's some other receivers right there on the cusp that got a little bit of action that maybe just didn't get the ball. So we have to be able to spread the ball around to more guys and utilize those on offense.

Q. Just on the receivers, 19 targets for Charlie, that seems like a lot. Speak to his workload and how you see that moving forward. Is that too many targets, and how do you see that moving forward?

JEFF BROHM: Well, I think we always want to spread the ball around as much as we can. At the same time if a receiver is hot and there's a section, we are not going to take that way and there were quite a few plays made between Aidan and Charlie.

But yeah, we'd like to have a little more balance across the board in a perfect world. But David Bell had a lot of targets in certain games, as well. So you know, continuing to work on our quarterback having confidence in the entire receiving core is important. You know, making sure that we continue to improve upon that.

Q. Also, just tackling, I know there's always the fear of getting guys hurt and there were some issues with that Thursday night. How do you go about improving the tackling while still being able to manage the health of the team moving forward?

JEFF BROHM: Well, we have looked and analyzed everything on defense and there were some key moments where the tackling could have been better. I don't think it was a problem throughout the entire game on a lot of plays but interest were key plays, about five, that we could have tackled way better and we've addressed that.

We've worked on it even this weekend. We'll continue to work on it; the ability for everybody to tackle the proper way. We've had multiple drills on it using our arms. I thought we tried to shoulder tackle. I thought we didn't finish as much as we can to make sure someone got to the ground.

And really, you know, defensively, the two-minute drive at the end of the half was costly when they only had about 25 seconds on the minus 18-yard line. That can't happen.

There was a scramble play on a busted coverage where the receiver turned up the field, got behind us, and then we were not able to attack them to the ground. That can't happen. Just can't happen at this level of football against good opponents.

And really did some decent things better in the second half, and once again, they gave up some easy completions. We missed a tackle. You know, we didn't guard the running back running out of the backfield on a blitz. Just lots of small things can't happen on a two-minute drive. It's disappointing because they had some good moments on defense, but there were some key plays that were not good. So we've got to get that fixed.

Q. Can you talk about, too, the use of -- I saw several times, six offensive lineman once and I think on one of King's TD runs you, had Marcus in the backfield in motion as a lead blocker. Talk about the evolution and use of the line moving forward, and of course Marcus's skill set.

JEFF BROHM: Well, like always, there's always plenty of improvement to make on offense and making sure that we're gaining yards and scoring touchdowns. You know, losing Miller was a concern and we've just got to continue to improve the other tight ends. But in the meantime, putting a bigger blocker in at tight end in situations was beneficial and we've got to continue to utilize that.

Short yardage -- there's a couple things we got better at: Red zone scoring, short yardage situations. So that was good to see. We just weren't able to finish the game on offense and take advantage of that.

But yeah, on short yardage on the goal line, we had not only an extra tight end in -- excuse me, an extra tackle in; I probably phrased that wrong earlier, too. But an extra tackle in, and then we put an extra tackle in at fullback in Marcus MBow and used him as a lead blocker and was able to walk in the end zone.

Those are the things we're going to have to be good at as far as coaches and making sure that there is an element and a package of the ability to get bigger bodies in to knock people off the ball and run the football.

Q. What's your feeling on playing FCS opponents? This will be the first since 2016.

JEFF BROHM: I don't think we've done it since I've been here but you know, we play the teams that are on the schedule and you have to respect all your opponents. They all play good football. You saw this weekend, there were a lot of FCS opponents that were really close to winning the football game against really good teams. It wasn't against not -- not very good teams. These were against very good teams.

There's a lot of good football being played out there. We respect our opponent and we respect all levels of football. If we don't improve and find ways to get better, then we are not going to win. That's just how football works at every level. We have got to really work hard this week to improve and get better.

Q. I asked Charlie after the game about punt returning, and he said it's his call if he wanted to return a punt, and he only did one. Is that something you discussed with him, and is the green light at his discretion if he wants to run a punt back or not?

JEFF BROHM: I think Charlie got winded and tired. As you look back, you know, he has free reign to return any punt that he wants. He probably caught the ball more than we thought he would, so I don't know if that's because he was tired.

I don't know if he felt some pressure coming at him. There were things on the return unit that we need to block better, and we need find ways to eliminate that first man and second man down that gets in his way.

So working hard with our corners on the gunners is something we worked hard on but we are not good in the game and they got down there too fast. So figuring out ways to either do that better or use a different technique. Sneak somebody out to double the gunner later to allow the first guy to be blocked. We've talked about even multiple returners to set up that first and second block.

Because that's really the key. I think if we can give him just initial space, he can make good runs and we were not able to do that evil and they did a good punter. He punted it well, punted it high and punted it long, so that probably affected it, also.

Q. Every team is different, but how do you go about the process of getting this team to finish?

JEFF BROHM: Well, it's something that every team works on. We work on it. You know, as you saw, we -- I thought we could have overall -- and we've talked about it, played even harder at times, and you know, finished plays all across the board, offense, defense and special teams.

I didn't think we finished 100 percent to the play on every single play, and that has to happen because you're going to get beat and you're going to have lapses where you have missed tackles and you let up on offense and you don't finish drives. Those were things you work on.

We want to finish the game on offense. We were not able to do that. You know, we got the ball with 6:27 on the minus 31. You know, we are always going to be aggressive.

So at the time, we are up three, they have three timeouts. I mean, we are trying to win the game. We were able to get a 14-play drive going, two of them were penalties. So maybe 12 plays where we got two first downs, which was great. And then we got a another first down that got us in field goal range that got called back with the chop block, and then that sets you back at the second and 25. So that kind of stopped that, but we were able to run -- move the ball, and then we got it back with 4:28 on the minus 23 and got a first down.

And then on second down, that's when we got to scramble through it to Payne; that the call was overturned and obviously if we catch it we're in field goal range and the game is probably over. We had Payne (ph) open, wide open. But we had pressure in Aidan's face. Love to set in there and throw it, because they were busting coverage and probably would have thrown it and it would have been a touchdown, but we didn't.

Then get to third and six, have a corner out, about as open as we've got the whole game that we've got to complete. So we were not able to finish being aggressive and you're not going to win the game.

Then they drove all the way down the field and scored. You look back and say, what can we do different and there's probably numerous things when it doesn't go well that we can do different. We are going to continue to evaluate that and make sure as you saw this weekend, there's a lot of games and a lot of stuff happens in the last five minutes and you know, we want to be smart, yet aggressive and in the end just whatever it takes to win the football game.

Q. Aidan looked or appeared to be a little frustrated on the timing when the plays were coming in in the second half. Were the plays getting delivered as you expected them to in a timely fashion?

JEFF BROHM: Well, actually, that wasn't he really until we got to that 6:27 mark when that happened and while we were aggressive, we were trying to bleed the clock as well. So we were wanting the clock to run down to under three seconds before we snapped it, so that because probably some of it. It caused us one delay of game unfortunately but we were trying to use the clock in those situations.

Before that, I don't think we had any problem getting the play and getting in late. It was as we were trying to kind of work some clock and you know, I think aide, also, made some really great throws. Was it his best game?

No, I don't think it was his best game. It was the first game we asked him to throw the football a lot. You know, I thought there was probably five or six times he threw the ball way too early when he didn't have to, and especially when you are getting tight coverage, you have to allow your guys some time to get open and I think he saw that as we watched the film.

We have to have more patience and poise in the pocket, and then cut it loose. He just was cutting it loose too soon at times and when you have tight coverage it's not enough time to get open and that hurt us a little bit but he made some tremendous throws at times. But he can play better, and I know he will.

Q. You mentioned Mershawn, what does he need to do to put himself into a number two type of receiver and a guy that you can depend on in the passing game?

JEFF BROHM: Well, Mershawn has shown great glimpse, unfortunately he gets hurt a lot and he misses a lot of practice. He's been hurt the entire camp and then he got hurt a couple weeks before the first game and he missed practice. So that's been the main issue; he's always been injured.

We have talked about it even with him and he has ability. He's got good size and we just have to figure out a way to -- for him as well, he's got to take it upon himself and us to try to manage it but he's got to stay healthy. He had a slight hamstring that caused him miss some practice. Didn't know if he was going to play. He was able to play and he made some catches. He's big. He's strong and I just think he's got to continue to work through that.

But yes, we have him and some other guys that I think are close but they just have to get out there and prove it on the game field and Mershawn did do some good things in the game.

Q. How do you evaluate the defensive line?

JEFF BROHM: I tell you what, I think they played hard. It's kind of what we thought. There's a lot of guys we feel like we can put in the game. Is there anybody that stood out as just playing great? No, not yet.

But we had a few glimpses here and there. I thought in the first half, the passing lanes were way too big, so we have to clean up either that in particular or manufacture the calls we are making so we are making sure that we're keeping lane integrity because I thought the quarterback was able to scramble and step up and buy way too much time and we've addressed that and looked at it closely, so there's some things strategically and schematically that we can do better to help that.

But I think they played hard. The second half they were much better I thought, other than the two-minute drive. So there's promise there. You know, Scotty got the one sack when he had great off got and really beat his guy off the ball.

Prince Boyd, one time got through the backfield just because of great get-off. We timed up a blitz one time at Mike linebacker, and he got in the backfield. But we just have to think of more ways to get pressure, push the pocket and figure out a way to get more sacks.

Q. Going back to the spring, Sanoussi Kane had hip surgery and you didn't know if he could even get back for the start of camp but Thursday he's out there playing and did well on special teams. Just his progress and his development through the off-season to get him back on the field for the opener?

JEFF BROHM: Wish we had more guys like Sanoussi Kane. He is a warrior and loves football and he can hit. He can tackle. He plays hard. He'll play through nicks and bruises.

And the surgery he had is a tough surgery. He's come back as fast as any of our guys. He's been able to practice injured. He's not 100 percent. He still goes. His strength is tackling and hitting and with no fear. You know, one time on a scramble he plastered too aggressive and the tight end turned up the field and he's got to know the situation, too, because there was only 20 seconds on the clock.

We have talked about that. We had drills yesterday of being able to plaster on a scramble drill but do it smartly from behind and make sure you're not gambling too much. That's been addressed.

But overall he gives us great effort and he loves football and he's one of our fiercest competitors.

Q. Does he stay in that rotation in the secondary? And he's a versatile guy that can play safety at corner.

JEFF BROHM: Yes, he is and he will be. We have to manage him in practice a little bit because of his hip. But he's definitely in the rotation.

Q. Is Carraway a guy that sees a few more snaps moving forward?

JEFF BROHM: I think so. We were able to get him in some. He has that push and athleticism and strength that is hard to find, when you play a first game in particular but when you play a first game against a really good opponent, you have to be careful that you don't expose them too much just because he has not seen type of talent that fast, but I thought he did some good things.

We had the touchdown at the end where our linebacker did not guard the running back and really where Nick could have contained the quarterback a little better but he was going so hard that the quarterback was going to kind of escape and buy time and back up, but he's got a great motor.

He's not great promise. We have to continue to school him up but he's done a really good job.

Q. How do you feel about your run game run?

JEFF BROHM: I think for the first three quarters we had some balance and we were able to pop some runs in there. The fourth quarter we had a drive before we got the ball at six minutes left where we called two runs and it was third and six. And then we didn't complete the pass and that was a stop.

So we have just got to be smart. We have worked hard at it. I've got to be committed to it to make sure that, you know, we want to score points and move the ball. And we've got to be able to run the ball in boxes that are not suited to run it a little bit more when we have to.

So we are going to continue to work at that, and I think we can get better.

Q. When you look back on, as you said, not being able to chose the game out on offense, is there anything the offense needs to show you in terms of its ability to potentially do some more ball control type stuff, run the ball, shorter passing game, anything like that? Do you feel comfortable with your offensive balance in those situations where you have to play situationally a little bit?

JEFF BROHM: Well, I feel comfortable definitely with the short passing game. You know, at the time, they were committed to loading the box and pressing us across the board, so it's hard to get a whole lot of quick passing game in when they were doing that because we tried that and they were draped on us; whether it was pass interference or not, we didn't get any calls.

It's a matter of if you're going to throw it, you have to work up the field more and get beyond them because they were sitting on all the short throws.

At the same time, yes, you have to be able to run the ball as well and mix that in. I just think continuing to have some mix and to make sure that we're scoring points.

Like I said, I mean, we were probably overaggressive at times last year in critical situations and it paid off because we were able to move the football and finish games. In this situation, we were not able to finish it.

So yes, you always look back and see what you could have done better. So yes, we want to get better at -- in critical situations, of, A, running the football and B, creating maybe the best way to put it is, the easiest completion we can through some picks and rub routes and things like that in key man-to-man situations.

Q. One thing you've always done here is you've played a lot of guys. What gives you confidence to put guys in who have not been through it as much as do you and not be that Coach who keeps his best or his first 22 out there to the point where in the fourth quarter, maybe they wear down a little bit?

JEFF BROHM: Well, I think we've gotten better to this point. We feel like we have some more depth that provides us the opportunity to do that and we want to do that. We want to try to play as many as we can. We want to provide competition and want guys to go out there and see what you can show us on the field. It's great in practice but show us on the game field.

I do think we played more guys in this first game than we had. I am always a little more conservative in the first game just because it's the first game and some guys are new and you don't want to lose their confidence. We hurt Sheffield a couple years ago when we stick him out there and he had some costly mistakes and hurt his confidence the entire year.

You have to make sure you're not doing that par we do have more depth. We have receiver depth. Just, hey, who is going to emerge as the next guy and the next guy and we have to continue to work through that, and I think there's a little more depth on the offensive line.

But who is going to emerge as difference-makers in the key situation, these are going be the five guys out there. There's more depth on the defensive line. Once again, ok, who is going to be your George Karlaftis or DeMarcus Mitchell that you can count on to make plays.

So that's kind of where we're at but I think that we've just got to continue to work through it, and yeah, you've got to get on the field and show what you can do. But I think a lot of guys will get opportunities to do that.

Q. You mentioned earlier about getting Tyrone Tracy more involved. How do you foresee that looking here, not only Saturday but the rest of the season?

JEFF BROHM: Probably just utilize him more out of the backfield and at receiver, both spots. I just think he's a guy that is better when the ball is in his hand. We had a couple throws to him that were not on the money. They were a little bit behind him but you still like to figure out a way to make the catch. He'll tell you: He'd be the first one to tell you that he would love to make some of those catches. Wasn't easy. Wasn't easy. We just have to get him the ball more.

So maybe not exactly like Rondale but whether that's behind the line of scrimmage or whether that's lining them up in a certain spot, figuring out a way to use others to get him open, I just think he needs some more touches and that will help our team.

Q. Is Abdur-Rahmaan Yaseen ready to play and is Jamari Brown ready to start opposite Cory Trice?

JEFF BROHM: Okay. So Abdur will be out for a while. He just doesn't feel like he's healthy enough. Denson will continue to still be out for a while and we have some other guys banged up, but those two for sure will be out for a while.

We can talk about the corner position. You know, we have three corners with experience in Reese Taylor, Jamari Brown and Cory Trice. I thought Cory twice for the most part did a good job and he had the one defensive holding penalty that hurt us. Brown, for the most part, did a good job. He had another holding penalty that hurt us and then there's one time he busted a coverage. But he's got experience.

Reese Taylor had had a really good camp. It wasn't his best game but we still feel like he's a really good football player. We had the one pass interference and we had the one off sides and we had the one missed tackle. You know, that hurt us. But sometimes he's to the field and they were isolating one guy to the field and that's not an easy job.

So I think he'll work through it. Reese is a talented player that's had a really good camp. They just were able to make a five plays on him. At every corner position, you're go to have to some really good days and some plays that don't go as well. Those are the three guys that will be in the rotation for us and play a lot of football.

Q. Is the Adams State transfer Bryce Hampton ready to get on the field?

JEFF BROHM: So Bryce is getting better. We've utilized him at the nickel position, a little bit of safety, a little bit of corner, and he's the next man up. He continues to get better, just knowing the nuances of our calls and defense and offensive structure and going against the speed of the game, that's something we are continuing to work through but I see him as the next man up and he'll start to play.